[Lucas_4ever]

The previous time this happened was 2020 Rome when Djokovic (yes, it was him again) beat four unseeded players — Caruso, Krajinovic, Koepfer and Ruud — to reach the final where he beat No. 8 seed Schwartzman.
Krajinovic at #29 was the highest ranked player of the four. Of course back then it was a 56-player draw, that's why Krajinovic was unseeded.

Two other most recent examples:
— Goffin at 2019 Cincinnati (highest ranked opponent #22 Pella in R2)
— Djokovic at 2015 Canada (#33 Bellucci in R2)
Again, both tournaments had 56-player draws with only 16 seeds.

I haven't looked past 2015.
I'd magine there were TONS of final runs like that in early noughties and 1990s when Masters tournaments were not exactly mandatory and had weaker draws overall.

EDIT:
Ok, I looked back a few more seasons and both Federer and Nadal also had "unseeded" final runs at M1000:
Federer at 2013 Rome — his R3 opponent Simon despite being ranked #17 was unseeded;
Nadal at 2011 Indian Wells. This one is truly remarkable as his first three opponents were qualifiers, then he faced Karlovic whose ranking collapsed to outside Top 200 in weeks leading up to the tournament and in SF he played Del Potro on protected ranking. So technically, the highest ranked opponent he met en route to the final was #84 Somdev Devvarman.

 

[talicnitom]

The previous time this happened was 2020 Rome when Djokovic (yes, it was him again) beat four unseeded players — Caruso, Krajinovic, Koepfer and Ruud — to reach the final where he beat No. 8 seed Schwartzman.
Krajinovic at #29 was the highest ranked player of the four. Of course back then it was a 56-player draw, that's why Krajinovic was unseeded.

still much better than rafas last 2 USO there he beat only one top20 player for 2 slam titles!

about opponents. rafas, feds, muzzas and wawas biggest rival was nole (all of them played most matches vd him) who has most top5 and top10 matches and wins!

 

[Ace2ndServe]

To be fair Djokovic needed this type of draw. We know Carlos & Sinner would smoke him. Probably Zverev as well. So if he is going to win one last masters 1000 he needed a gift draw and he got it.

 

[Heroic Atreides]

another dissing thread from OP towards Djokovic.
Kinda regulatory after Rune winning Paris some seasons ago.

 

[Alex225]

Djokovic is truly the biggest fraud of all time

Watching Shanghai unfold genuinely feels like I’ve been transported back into 2022

Disgusting vulturing, of course if sincaraz didn’t exist to expose his fraudulent pushing clown self then imagine the narrative his deluded cult would be running right now

The field during the second half of 2025 has been abysmal

PATHETIC

 

[Alex225]

Lol Novak is by far the best Masters player ever, he doesn't need to prove anything here

That's a non sequitur, but OK champ.

Don’t ever expect them to follow some sort of logical pattern - those circus performers can only respond with “NoVaK GoAt”

 

[estherglycol]

Conditions in Shanghai are so harsh they test players in a different way. Most top players couldn’t handle the conditions and lower-ranked players who can handle conditions are getting through. This just shows how well-rounded is Djokovic and better than the other top players when conditions get difficult. Another W really.

 

[sr8685]

The competition is obviously terrible but Djokovic is still doing his job and beating these players.

It would still be a shock if Djokovic lost to any of these players.

 

[TheBigThree]

If Djokovic beats [insert random unseeded mug here] in the SF, he will have made the final without facing a single seed.

This must be exceedingly rare.

Has it happened before? And when?

It's rare, but not THAT rare. Federer alone did it six times:

Federer 2004 Canada
Federer 2005 Cinci
Federer 2007 Canada
Federer 2007 Cinci
Federer 2008 Hamburg
Federer 2013 Rome

 

[Drango]

Jannick Sinner only faced Tommy Paul as the only seeded player, ranked 14th at the time, to reach the final in Toronto in 2023 - but he only had to win 3 matches including Paul to do so, because Murray withdrew in the 3rd round and gave him a walkover. Djokovic, while not facing a seeded player, at least would have to win 5 full matches to reach the final instead of 3 like Jannick did - making it a more difficult & impressive path imo. 3 unseeded players will always be tougher to beat than just 1 seeded player, esp if that 1 seeded player is not even a top 5 player, let alone in the top 10.

Also last year in Madrid, FAA only had to beat Nishioka, Mannarino and Ruud to reach the F - the latter 2 were both seeded (even though Mannarino sucks ass on clay and should be counted as an unseeded player given the surface, as he's not even a top 100 clay court player in the ATP), but 3 of the other matches he "won" were due to a retirement or a walkover. So only 3 full match victories as well in a 96 player draw like the 1 in Shanghai, instead of 5 that Novak would have to get through. The run is still more impressive than Sinner's because Ruud was a top 10 player and one of the favorites for the tournament (and ended up actually winning Madrid a year later earlier this year), and is tougher to beat on clay than Paul on HCs - but less impressive than Novak's run this week if he ends up making the final.

So despite Novak not facing any seeded players this week to make the F, this run would still be more impressive than both Jannick's 2023 Toronto and FAA's Madrid 2024 - esp because of the extremely difficult conditions in Shanghai this year that resulted in many players retiring from their matches, and him being 38yo and physically suffering on court/not being in amazing physical shape.

For the first time in his career he deserves to have some luck with the draw and a relatively easy (on paper) path to the final.

 

[Subliminal]

I take it from this weak effort that you couldn't find any example of Fed making a M1000 final without meeting a seeded player.

Well Federer has way less finals so not as mnay opportunitiesto do it. Apparently though, he did it 6 times.

 

[Subliminal]

To be fair Djokovic needed this type of draw. We know Carlos & Sinner would smoke him. Probably Zverev as well. So if he is going to win one last masters 1000 he needed a gift draw and he got it.

Zverev? Lol.

 

[Ace2ndServe]

Zverev? Lol.

Well he did beat him at the AO. Hopefully we'll see that matchup again where they are both healthy.

 

[Subliminal]

Well he did beat him at the AO. Hopefully we'll see that matchup again where they are both healthy.

Djokovic retired with injury after the 1st set so he didn't exactly "beat him". Beating is what Djokovic did to him at RG

 

[Litotes]

It's rare, but not THAT rare. Federer alone did it six times:

Federer 2004 Canada
Federer 2005 Cinci
Federer 2007 Canada
Federer 2008 Cinci
Federer 2008 Madrid
Federer 2013 Rome

You might want to recheck that list. Did you add one that shouldn’t be there, or write incorrect information for a missing one?

 

[Chipmaster]

It's rare, but not THAT rare. Federer alone did it six times:

Federer 2004 Canada
Federer 2005 Cinci
Federer 2007 Canada
Federer 2008 Cinci
Federer 2008 Madrid
Federer 2013 Rome

Again, 16-seed draw is a completely different situation. The only other 32-seed draw occassion (including Slams) mentioned in this thread was Nadal´s 2011 IW and that´s because del Potro was coming off of an injury. To reach a Masters 1000 F without having to play a TOP40 player is certainly up there with all-time vulture runs.

 

[Lucas_4ever]

Interestingly, despite Shanghai being 8th ATP tournament Djokovic has played this year, he is yet to face a Top 10 player in best-of-3-sets format in 2025. (He played seven Top 10 matches at slams.)
If De Minaur fails to reach Shanghai final and Djokovic skips Paris (extremely likely) and YEC (very much possible) it will be the first time in his tour level career that Novak goes entire season without meeting a Top 10 player in Bo3.

 

[Iblis]

Who has more natural raw Talent, Djokovic or Dicaprio?

As an actor or as a tennis player? it's Djokovic either way.

 

[TheBigThree]

You might want to recheck that list. Did you add one that shouldn’t be there, or write incorrect information for a missing one?

Thanks, I was in a rush. It's 2007 Cinci, not 2008 Cinci, and 2008 Hamburg, not Madrid. Still 6 runs, though.

 

[TheBigThree]

Again, 16-seed draw is a completely different situation. The only other 32-seed draw occassion (including Slams) mentioned in this thread was Nadal´s 2011 IW and that´s because del Potro was coming off of an injury. To reach a Masters 1000 F without having to play a TOP40 player is certainly up there with all-time vulture runs.

Sure, but OP just asked whether reaching the final without facing a seed happened before. With 16 seeds, it happened somewhat regularly. With 32 seeds, it's obviously rarer.